Although we don't know for certain when Shakespeare was born, records of his baptism on 26th April, 1564 survive, and so a birth-date slightly earlier doesn't seem implausible, even if it may have originated in a clerical error which confused the writer's date of death - 23rd April - with his date of birth. The convenient coincidence that April 23rd is also St George's Day seems to have strengthened the tradition, so England can celebrate its greatest playwright and its patron saint simultaneously.
In today's blog post, Theo Mahon explains why he thinks Shakespeare is still an important writer for today's world.
I often hear people complain about the relevance of Shakespeare and suggest the study of his plays to be a waste of time, having little significance for their own lives. The actual language of his plays is certainly outdated but the themes explored in Shakespearean plays are as relevant in 2018 as they were when they were being performed. This is widely due to the fact that the main themes of his plays are related to human nature, which regardless of evolutionary or scientific development remains the same.
In Macbeth, the idea that ambition can corrupt and dehumanise is explored. Modern day politics is a prime example of how this is still the case. Ruthlessly ambitious individuals will say/do anything in the pursuit of power and wealth whilst common decency is discarded as pointless.
The Merchant of Venice illustrates the theme of self-interest, staking it against rationality and moral decency. In 2018, the world is rife with self-interest. Self-help and self-improvement is an industry worth millions whilst many people are involved in superficial relationships, especially via the means of a social network.
Romeo and Juliet is centred around the power of love. The desperation of the masses to find ‘genuine love’ is more intensive that it ever has been - ‘versions’ of this goal such as online dating have become so popular because of it. This is because the human need for companionship has not changed with the passage of time.
Hamlet is focused on revenge. This for me is the best example of why the themes of Shakespeare’s plays are still so relevant. The actions of politicians, the ultra wealthy and celebrities are just public indication of how revenge is such a dominant part of human nature and demonstrates that the human desire for hurting those who have hurt us has not changed since Shakespeare’s time.
More to the point, Shakespeare throughout all of his plays presents these human emotions as prevalent above any others and the fact that each is resembled in some form or another today only emphasises that human nature and what matters to it has not changed, therefore neither has its relevance.
If you take Shakespeare’s plays at face value, or even without the rigorous aid of AJB, it is easy to dismiss his work as irrelevant in modern times. Shakespearean plays are on the contrary as meaningful now as they ever were. The individual is still conflicted by the same emotions as people were four hundred years ago. Reading Shakespeare therefore only clarifies our understanding of ourselves and others in general.
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